Author: survivesocpod

Welcome to Season 3 of Surviving Society! This week we talk about what we’ve been reading, how our sociological imagination has changed since beginning the podcast, and how we are individually coming to terms/coping with the current political mess. Expect the usual laughter, ranting and swearing throughout!

In this episode we are lucky enough to be talking to Professor Ben Rogaly, human geographer at the University of Sussex, activist, and one of Saskia’s PhD supervisors. Ben tells us about his work with residents of Peterborough, what ‘gangmastering’ is, and why Peterborough is an important place when it comes to thinking about Englishness, migration and racisms. As well as talking about whiteness in rural England, we ask Ben to help us out in thinking about the debate around anti-semitism in the Labour party – why is it such a big political issue? Why is it so complicated to talk about? And what is Zionism? Along the way, Saskia gets to whip out her 16th Century History A Level knowledge, Tissot contributes his info from the Daily Stormer, and Chantelle brings in her insider view on the Midlands. Thank you so much Ben for coming on the pod and for helping us to survive society!

This week we are back with an Alternative to Woman’s Hour featuring actor and activist Rebecca Scroggs! Rebecca shares her experiences in the acting world as a mixed-race Black woman, we talk #MeToo, #TimesUp and #ShutUp (disclaimer: not a real movement…yet), and we have a think about how complicated social class can be. The chair of a housing cooperative, we also talk to Rebecca about the current political climate in relation to social housing, and why squatting is a radical act. Expect lots of laughs, strong language and some digestible academic thinking 🤓

This week we travel to Sussex to speak to Dr Joe Kennedy of the University of Gothenburg about his new book Authentocrats and as per we get SUPER POLITICAL. Discussing the policies and legacies of centre-ground political parties, Joe explains how he wants to show that Labour is just as guilty as the Tories and UKIP when it comes to using the ‘authentic’ views of stereotypical small-town voters as an excuse for racist policies. In a conversation that ranges from crime dramas to Game of Thrones to Lord Byron, we ponder why the way in which we talk about places matters, whether a more precise politics is possible, and whether Joe will oblige us by defining neoliberalism. Thank you so much Joe for taking the time to talk to us!

What’s with all these BME/BAME acronyms, and are they actually useful? Is white genocide a thing? And how can the government claim austerity is over if they aren’t increasing public spending? In this episode we grapple with how to talk about people who are racialised, far-right ideals of racial purity, and the deceptions of our government, with a little help from our friends (we wish) Avtar Brah and Kalwant Bhopal. We get ranty, we get sweary, and we have a wry chuckle about all the nonsense that the world throws at us as we attempt to survive society.

This week we are super excited to be joined by one of our favourite sociologists and teachers Professor Les Back to talk about his latest book, Migrant City, which he has co-written with Dr Shamser Sinha. After an introduction from Les and Charlynne Bryan, who contributed to Migrant City, Les tells us about the ten-year project in which he and Shamser have followed the lives of 30 migrants, some of whom are refugees and asylum seekers, as they seek to establish their lives in London in the face of brutal UK immigration policies. As well as discussing the racism and colonialism that continues to shape British social, economic and political life, the four of us think together about sociable sociology in a time of division and political unrest, the potential of everyday conviviality as an alternative to racism, and how as sociologists we can attempt to contribute to the humanity and dignity of people who bear the brunt of anti-migrant politics. Huge thanks to Les for taking the time to talk to us, and also to Les, Shamser and your participants for what is a beautiful piece of sociology and a powerful intervention in anti-migrant times.

When Saskia started her PhD in the Geography Department at Royal Holloway, one of the first things she noticed was the absence of people of colour in her research group. Given the numbers of students of colour at undergraduate level in the UK, why are the academic staff and PhD students she works with almost all white? Along with special guest Dom Jackson-Cole from the University of East London, Chantelle and Tissot visited Saskia’s research group to talk about the ways in which universities exclude and profit from postgraduate students of colour, how it feels to be a racialised outsider in higher education, and why histories and realities of racism are relevant to everyone, not just students of colour.

Welcome to another *live* episode of Surviving Society! In our third and final collaboration with The Sociological Review, our #1 fan Dr Michaela Benson interviews Saskia, Chantelle and Tissot about podcasting, public sociology, and how we’ve helped each other to survive our PhDs. With our lovely audience of fellow PhD students and early career researchers, we discuss why we see sociology as an activist discipline, and the importance of harnessing your rage when you’re doing social research. Thank you so much to everyone in the audience for coming along and being so engaged, and an extra big thank you to Michaela for all her help and support! As always, we’re angry, we’re sweary, we’re laughing, and we’re super grateful to everyone who has made this panel, the podcast and our studies possible.

What do people mean when they talk about the ‘smart city’, and can the smart city ever be inclusive? In our second episode recorded in collaboration with The Sociological Review, Chantelle, Tissot and Saskia talk to Dr Ayona Datta about her work on urban transformations in Indian cities. Ayona argues that we need to be skeptical about whether smart cities can really address deep-rooted inequalities – smart water meters are useless if there’s no infrastructure for clean running water. Tissot tells us about the creative uses of smart technology by homeless people living in London’s financial district, showing that, although digital divides run across class lines, smart technology can change our cities in unplanned and exciting ways.

In the first of our collaborations with The Sociological Review, Professor Satnam Virdee talks to Tissot, Chantelle and Saskia about the importance of ‘race’ when it comes to understanding class and capitalism. Satnam argues that, looking at the last three centuries of capitalism in Britain and its empire, we can see that ‘‘race’ and nation, when it comes to thinking about Britain, run hand in hand’. As informative about the current political moment as he is about histories of capitalism, we especially love Satnam’s challenge to the idea that Britain was ever a ‘white’ nation, and the hope he offers about the role migrants can and have played in the democratisation of our society.